Berkeley, CA— With stay-at-home orders in place for communities throughout Armenia, The Paros Foundation has risen to the challenge of helping feed Armenia’s elderly, at-risk and impoverished populations.

In the Berd Consolidated Communities, which is comprised of 17 towns and villages in Armenia’s North Eastern border with Azerbaijan, The Paros Foundation responded to an urgent need for food packets to be distributed to 800 elderly and disabled residents in these communities. With financial support from the Armenian diaspora, Paros staff quickly contracted with food suppliers to get the food staples delivered to the Berd municipality where staff and volunteers coordinated this massive distribution effort. This process has been repeated twice to date.

Food packages for the families of children at the Debi Arach Children Center ready for distribution.

When the spread of Covid-19 closed schools throughout Armenia, the staff at the Debi Arach Children’s Center took similar safety precautions and closed its doors temporarily. This, however, created another problem. Many of the children that attend this academically focused after school program count on the nutrition they receive as their main meal of the day. The Paros Staff worked closely with leadership at the Debi Arach Children’s Center to prepare and distribute food packets based on the number of children in each household to all the Debi Arach families. This process has been repeated twice to date.

“We launched the #FeedingArmenia campaign to immediately respond to this important need,” said Peter Abajian, Executive Director of The Paros Foundation. “Our next challenge is how to reopen and operate centers like Debi Arach in a safe and effective manner, while staying true to its core mission. While this challenge presents itself to every organizations, I am proud of the fact that our team is already engaged in these discussions and planning.”

An elderly resident of Tavush’s Verin Tsakhavan Village receives a food packet distribution.

In the town of Nor Geghi, the mayor led an effort to provide food support for his town’s elderly and at risk population. With support from the Nor Keghi Association and its Detroit-based leadership and members, 25 families in need received a large food pack to support them for approximately one month.

Armenia’s current stay-at-home order is slowly being lifted, and the hope is that the virus will not spread, but it is unclear when the need for #FeedingArmenia will cease. While much still remains uncertain, one thing is becoming clearer—Armenia will reopen to a new reality. Masks, greater personal space and distancing and enhanced personal hygiene will all become part of Armenia’s future. To support #FeedingArmenia, or other projects of The Paros Foundation, please visit www.parosfoundation.org.

As stimulus checks start going out and new tax law is in place, we have received a few questions on how this affects your charitable giving in 2020. With the help of The Paros Foundation friend and donor, Eric Nikssarian, CFP® a wealth advisor with EP Wealth Advisors, we were able to understand some of these changes.

• One of the rules that can directly affect your charitable giving is that you can now donate up to $300 ($600 for joint filers) to The Paros Foundation or any bona fide 501(c)3 organization and deduct it above-the-line on your tax return in 2020 directly lowering your taxable income. This new rule is available for taxpayers who do not itemize deductions in 2020. *Please note this rule change is only in effect for 2020 and donations to a Donor Advised Fund do not count for this deduction.
• For those that are itemizing, charitable deduction limits have increased from 60% of adjusted gross income to 100% of adjusted gross income for 2020 only. Charitable deduction limits for corporations have also increased to 25% of their taxable income, up from 10% for 2020 only.  *Please note donations made to Donor Advised Funds again do not count for this incentive. Be advised if you plan to donate property, securities, and other non-cash assets that they may not qualify.
• Lastly, required minimum distributions have been waived for 2020 in most cases. However, individuals who want to donate from their IRA can still make qualified charitable distributions to 501(c)3 organizations, even though there is no incentive to do so.

The silver lining to these trying times is that we can still make a positive impact. If you have any questions about donations feel free to direct your questions to Peter Abajian, Executive Director of The Paros Foundation. If you’d like to contact Paros friend Eric Nikssarian, CFP®, a Wealth Advisor at EP Wealth Advisors, you can email him at enikssarian@epwealth.com.

Together with the head of the consolidated community in Berd we are working on #FeedingArmenia. In the 17 villages and towns in the Berd area, there is some 800 people including the elderly and disabled, who are in urgent need of food. With the stay at home mandates from the government, the people in these border villages can no longer work, resulting in a lack of food and other essentials for survival. Donate today and make a difference for someone in Armenia today.

Food packs from the March distribution. With additional funds, more necessary food packs can be delivered.

As the Covid-19 Virus impacts people around the world, I would like to update the Paros community regarding the pandemic’s effects on Armenia and Paros’ work in the homeland.

• To the best of our knowledge, our supporters, beneficiaries and
  staff are safe and healthy.
• Armenia has more than 700 cases of the virus. Seven people have passed away. Armenia is in the midst of a national stay at home order. Police are enforcing this mandate with the hope of containing the spread. All none essential work has stopped throughout Armenia including construction.
• Our team is working from their homes and respecting the seriousness of this pandemic, while strategizing and planning for the lifting of the stay at home order. At the Debi Arach Children’s Center in Gyumri, we have committed to continue paying our staff during the closure, our on-staff psychologist is checking in with the children regularly, and we are providing food packages for all families of Debi Arach with guidelines on safety protocols for receiving and cleaning the delivered items.
• In the United States, The Paros Team is also respecting the stay at home order and are preparing for the future – Armenia will need our support more than ever, once this virus impact subsides. We continue to accept new contributions, new project submissions and inquiries.

Please…stay healthy and be cautious,

Peter J. Abajian
Executive Director

We are dedicated to providing consistent meals, psychological support, and structured in-home learning to the youth. Although the facility is currently closed, we are working hard to ensure the physical and emotional well-being of all students and staff.

• To our knowledge, the direct school community are safe and virus-free.
• We have committed to continue paying our staff during the closure.
• We are working closely with our on-staff psychologist, who is checking in with the kids each week to help them navigate their lives during this challenging time.
• We want to make sure the students still receive consistent, adequate nutrition so we are providing food packages for all families of Debi Arach with guidelines on safety protocols for receiving and cleaning the items.

The need for our help in Armenia is greater than ever. Please consider supporting our intense and comprehensive efforts to make a major positive impact during this trying time by using the link below to donate to Debi Arach. We wish our supporters, families, and staff great health, friendship, love, and….patience!

About Debi Arach

To date, the center has already had several important successes. At least nine children have been taken out of boarding schools, attend our center and now live back at home with their families. Many of the children who were receiving poor grades in school are now achieving top scores. The children have become socially well adjusted and much healthier than before with the continued consumption of multi-vitamins and a daily well-balanced meal. Staff trainings have begun with an academic counsel of professionals from the United States and Armenia to ensure that the children are receiving the best care, treatment, and methods for their development.

Med-Aid ARMENIA – Helping Establish Preventative Care as a Norm

Berkeley, California – This year The Paros Foundation is hosting its third medical mission in Armenia. Med-Aid ARMENIA 2020 will be headed by Kaiser pediatrician, Dr. Krikor Deramerian, whose vision to launch free preventative care for impoverished children in Armenia became a reality. To date, medical professionals and volunteers have examined over 300 children in Gyumri, screening for general health, vision, hearing including providing information on overall wellness. Once issues are identified, The Paros Foundation works with the children and their families to help them address their medical needs

“We found several children with minor health issues during our mission last summer. This early diagnosis will help prevent these minor problems from becoming more serious ones in the future,” said Houry Abajian, Pharm. D.

This summer’s Med Aid ARMENIA 2020 medical mission will take place from June 25 to July 4 in Armenia. This summer, the team will conduct wellness screenings for several hundred children in the city of Gyumri and the village of Jil, who do not have regular access to healthcare. The program will need staff of all expertise and abilities.

As part of the mission, health care professionals and their accompanying families will experience visits to several of Armenia’s historic sites and tours. The trip will begin and end with time spent in Armenia’s vibrant capital, Yerevan.

Contact Peter Abajian, Executive Director of The Paros Foundation, for more information or to reserve your participation. Tel: (310) 400-9061 or Email: peter@parosfoundation.org

Nerkin Karmir Aghbyur –With the completion of the reconstruction at the secondary school in the large border village of Nerkin Karmir Aghbyur, in Armenia’s Tavush Region, students are experiencing a vibrant newly energized approach to their education. The nearly $250,000 capital project was funded by Jean-Marie and Lori Atamian and their friends, Michael and Patricia Starzer, through The Paros Foundation’s Prosperity on the Border initiative and was completed in phases over four years. The campus consists of three large two-story buildings and has been reconfigured to accommodate more than 150 students in this growing village.

Originally an isolated border school in disrepair, the school now serves as a hub of education for the region and attracts many visitors and innovative programming.

One of the most modern rural educational facilities in Armenia, the Nerkin Karmir Aghbyur school now boasts bright classrooms and hallways, fully equipped science labs, a robotics room, an auditorium, a dance studio, library, exercise rooms and a state of the art kitchen and cafeteria. The gym has also been renovated and the children are provided with gym clothes at the start of every academic year, which proudly displays the school’s logo.

This ambitious project is part of a comprehensive initiative undertaken by the Atamian Family to rebuild the infrastructure of this important village and previously saw the complete reconstruction of the kindergarten, medical clinic, emergency services building and water supply system. The Atamians are continuing to fund the reconstruction of homes for large families and various agricultural projects to allow residents to improve their living conditions. The economic potential of this village recently prompted the government to build a modern, asphalted three-mile road connecting this previously isolated village to the main road and to finance an auxiliary water pipeline.

“The annual and long term financial support provided by the Atamians is helping transform Nerkin Karmir Aghbyur into a thriving and growing community,” said Peter Abajian, Executive Director of The Paros Foundation. “This village is serving as a model for our Prosperity on the Border Initiative and is inspiring other diasporan families to support the development of several other border villages, including: Paravakar, Chinari, Baghanis, Varagavan and Artsvabert.”

Since 2013, The Paros Foundation’s SERVICE Armenia program has taken young people ages 17 to 22 to Armenia for a month-long service and tour program. This year’s program will run from June 23 until July 24, 2020.

“Each year SERVICE Armenia connects young people from throughout the United States to one another and to the homeland in a meaningful and lasting way.” Said Peter Abajian, Executive Director of The Paros Foundation. “What these young people experience during this summer often times shapes their future plans and ambitions.”

In 2019, the SERVICE Armenia group worked on renovation projects at the Talin Music School in the town of Talin, the school in the village of Zorakan, the Debi Arach Children’s Center in Gyumri and at the Nor Hachn Museum in the village of Nor Hachn. In addition to these projects, the group implemented orphan excursions for children from the Yerevan Children’s Home and the Kharpert Home for Special Children. Dustin Hochmuth, a two-time past participant who launched “Groceries for Gyumri,” led it again for the second summer. SERVICE Armenia participants assembled food packets and distributed them to 50 impoverished families.

Applications are now available on The Paros Foundation’s website for SERVICE Armenia 2020 at parosfoundation.org. The program includes tours to historic, religious and cultural sites in Armenia and Artsakh, English speaking staff and guides, safe and well-located accommodations and transportation combined with interesting cultural and educational activities that will ensure all will have an engaging and memorable experience. Participants need not be of Armenian descent; the program is open to everyone. Knowledge of the Armenian language is not required. Join us and create a lifetime of great memories & friends.

The deadline to submit the completed application is April 1, 2020. Applicants are encouraged to apply early. Contact Peter Abajian at (310) 400-9061 for more information.

“It was an eye-opening experience walking into the domiks and seeing how people were living even 30 years after the massive earthquake. This alone has taught me to be more appreciative and grateful for the things I have, and it really has changed me for the better.”

David Bogossian
SERVICE Armenia Participant 2019

“I constantly thought about what I could do to actually make an impact for schools, particularly on the grade school level, in the areas of need outside the capital city of Yerevan.” -Seda Melkoni

My name is Seda Melkoni and I am on a quest to help make improvements to School #8 in the City of Abovyan. More than 530 children attend this school. The entire school needs to be renovated and I have decided to partner with The Paros Foundation on this project. Here is my story…

In 2014, I traveled to Armenia for the first time to work on an American television mini-series production that would be filming in various parts of Armenia. One of the production days took place at the historic Garni Temple during the very early morning hours before the gates had opened to the public. When we wrapped production and the public was allowed entrance, I noticed several small school field trip groups arriving and one group, in particular, came all the way to the gates and after some conversation I noticed them preparing to leave, only to find out that they were not aware that there was now an entrance fee to the site and since none of the students or teachers could afford to pay, they had to leave. I offered to pay for the class, they graciously accepted and the students were able to have their field trip. The teachers requested a photo with me and the class to put up at their school in appreciation of what I thought was a very, very small gesture for such gratitude.

I kept a copy of that photo and that experience stayed with me for several years as I constantly thought about what I could do to actually make an impact for schools, particularly on the grade school level, in the areas of need outside the capital city of Yerevan.

By 2017, I had my second daughter and was further motivated to create a way for them to be inspired and connected to their Armenian culture as well as understand the value of helping others. This was also the time I joined the production planning team at Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, where I met Tatevik Torossian. As we began to work together, I shared my experience in Armenia and learned that for years, Tatevik had been sending donations of school supplies to her childhood friend who was now a teacher at a school in great need of help in the city of Abovyan. Tatevik had also attended that same school as a child. This became the foundation of the project I had been thinking about for years. My husband and I established the ELSO Foundation, named after our daughters Elena & Sofia and began the process in seeking partners for our projects, beginning with me asking Tatevik to provide the introduction to her friend the teacher.

In the fall of 2018, I met with the staff of The Paros Foundation to discuss the Abovyan School project. Their team visited the school, assessed the leaking roofs, broken windows, struggling furnace and agreed to tackle this project. Paros listed the project on their website and we began raising the necessary funds to renovate the roofs over six of the school’s buildings. By spring of this year, we had enough funds raised to change the roof on one of the buildings. The Paros team efficiently and effectively replaced the entire roof of this first building. Moving forward, I plan to continue my appeal to my family and friends to help with the other five roofs needing repair. The students and staff are anxiously awaiting the repairs to solve the school’s many leaks. I feel fortunate that I connected that morning with students at Garni and through this effort, I hope to connect others to students and the staff at School #8 in Abovyan.

Abovyan School #8

The town of Abovyan in Armenia’s Kotayk region is often referred to as the northern gateway to Yerevan because of its proximity to city (about 10 miles north.) Abovyan is home to more than 34,500 residents. More than 530 children attend School #8 in Abovyan. The school is in overall poor condition. School administrators do what they can to maintain the facility, but outside assistance is needed to dramatically improve conditions throughout this school. The roofs over the six buildings that are currently being used at the Abovyan School #8 are leaking and beyond repair. These roofs and much of the support structure beneath must be changed to help create a safe and comfortable environment for the children while they are at school. Learn more and get involved here.

Dr. Gary Assarian, Linda Assarian, Narine Panosian, Paros Foundation Association Director and Sevan Amirians, Paros Foundation Project Manager.

Bloomfield Hills, MI—Thanks to a generous second donation to underwrite the vocational training programs at the Debi Arach Children’s Center in Gyumri from the Dr. Gary and Linda Assarian Family Foundation, Debi Arach is proud to announce the naming of this program as the Assarian Vocational Training Program.

“My wife Linda and I visited Armenia and Debi Arach and gained an understanding of the economic challenges facing people in Gyumri,” said Dr. Gary Assarian. “Our goal is to help people learn a skill and successfully gain employment. We are excited to support Paros in these innovative programs and their future plans.”

Launched in 2017 with generous support from the Assarian family, vocational training is an integral component of the Debi Arach Children’s Center, helping future generations in Gyumri work themselves out of poverty. The program launched with a high-tech focus teaching web-design and web programming to young adults. Following classroom instruction in several course subjects, students graduated into internships to obtain real world experience. More than half of the graduates are now gainfully employed and utilizing their new skills in the workplace. These classes have continued with more than 40 students to date. In August of 2019, a second focused vocational option was added to include instruction for cosmetologists, hair stylists, make up artists and manicurists. This was aimed to help young women find employment in the region and provide a much needed service to their community. An additional 24 students are enrolled in these courses.

Dr. Gary Assarian, Linda Assarian, Narine Panosian Paros Foundation Association Director and Sevan Amirians Paros Foundation Project Manager.

“Since we launched the Debi Arach Children’s Center in April of 2015, the more than 200 children and young adults participating at the Center on a weekly basis are thriving,” said Peter Abajian, Executive Director of The Paros Foundation. “We are making a significant difference in the lives of these families and expanding our vocational training efforts is a natural step forward. It is a pleasure to work with the Assarian family and we have significant plans for expanding the Assarian Vocational Training Program at Debi Arach in the near future.

The Center operates six days per week and students attend the afterschool programs in two groups each three times per week. Programs are designed to take a holistic approach to addressing a poverty stricken child’s needs and help them overcome the obstacles to future success, including their humanitarian, physical and psychological needs, academic support and career planning. Debi Arach has notable successes to date beyond the vocational training programs, including reuniting children with their parents (who were leaving the children at orphanages or boarding schools), strong academic achievements, better overall health and successful career planning and job placement.

To support the Debi Arach Children’s Center or another project of The Paros Foundation, please visit www.parosfoundation.org.